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dreamflowerWell, apparently George R.R. Martin has jumped into the fray, defending Diana Gabaldon's post.
I read his post, and a couple of pages of comments-- he was less vitriolic than DG, but a lot more patronizing, starting with the first sentence, where he put "fan fiction" in quotation marks, and then referred to fanfic writers as "so-called fans" a little further down.
And even more than DG, it seems clear that his only concern is the bottom line--
He gives several cautionary tales of writers supposedly taken advantage of by fans, among them this one:
"Let me bring up a couple other writers, then. Contemporaries of an earlier age, each of whom was known by a set of initials: ERB and HPL. ERB created Tarzan and John Carter of Mars. HPL created Cthulhu and his Mythos. ERB, and later his estate, was extremely protective of his creations. Try to use Tarzan, or even an ape man who was suspiciously similar to Tarzan, without his/ their permission, and their lawyers would famously descend on you like a ton of bricks. HPL was the complete opposite. The Cthulhu Mythos soon turned into one of our genres first shared worlds. HPL encouraged writer friends like Robert Bloch and Clark Ashton Smith to borrow elements from his Cuthulhu Mythos, and to add elements as well, which HPL himself would borrow in turn. And in time, other writers who were NOT friends of HPL also began to write Cthulhu Mythos stories, which continues to this day.
Fair enough. Two writers, two different decisions.
Thing is, ERB died a millionaire many times over, living on a gigantic ranch in a town that was named Tarzana after his creation. HPL lived and died in genteel poverty, and some biographers have suggested that poor diet brought on by poverty may have hastened his death. HPL was a far more beloved figure amongst other writers, but love will only get you so far. Sometimes it's nice to be able to have a steak too. The Burroughs estate was paid handsomely for every Tarzan movie ever made, and collected plenty on the PRINCESS OF MARS movie I worked on during my Hollywood years, and no doubt is still collecting on the one currently in development... though the book is in the public domain by now. Did the Lovecraft estate make a penny off THE DUNWICH HORROR movie, the HERBERT WEST, REANIMATOR movie, the recent DAGON movie, the internet version of CALL OF CTHULHU? I don't know. I rather doubt it. If they did, I'll betcha it was just chump change. Meanwhile, new writers go right on mining the Cthulhu mythos, writing new stories and novels."
I noticed that he dismissed H.P. Lovecraft's generosity with his creations as foolish, because even though he was "beloved", HPL died in poverty, while he praised Edgar Rice Burrough's possessiveness because he was a millionaire when he died.
Hmmm...
Being a millionaire when one dies is better than being beloved?
Hmmm...
Assuming an afterlife, which is going to be more important to the dead person? Somehow I don't think money will have a lot of value there.
And assuming no afterlife, well, dead is dead, and a dead rich person is no better off than a dead poor one.
Except that people will remember the beloved one far longer and with more affection than they will the one who was merely rich.
Now, for all I know, among his family and friends ERB might have been beloved as well-- but GRRM does not think that is as important as his being RICH!
I think about JRRT, for whom making a living was always a concern. He worked his entire life on a body of work that did not really begin to make a difference for him financially until late in his life. He worried about making ends meet, and kept his "day job" as a professor all the way up until retirement, in spite of the strain it was on him and the time it took away from his work on on his beloved Arda. Yet his expressed wish was that he could create a "body of more or less connected legend", of which "the cycles should be linked to a majestic whole, and yet leave scope for other minds and hands..."
He did not build the world of Arda in order to make money-- he built it because he loved it and he crafted it meticulously. That he was able to sell his stories finally was almost incidental to his creation of his body of work.
Now, decades after his death, he's a millionaire many times over. But I think that he'd have more joy in the knowledge that people still love his work.
Hmmmm...
I find myself more and more sad about how things have changed, and nothing is judged good unless it makes $$$$$$$.
I read his post, and a couple of pages of comments-- he was less vitriolic than DG, but a lot more patronizing, starting with the first sentence, where he put "fan fiction" in quotation marks, and then referred to fanfic writers as "so-called fans" a little further down.
And even more than DG, it seems clear that his only concern is the bottom line--
He gives several cautionary tales of writers supposedly taken advantage of by fans, among them this one:
"Let me bring up a couple other writers, then. Contemporaries of an earlier age, each of whom was known by a set of initials: ERB and HPL. ERB created Tarzan and John Carter of Mars. HPL created Cthulhu and his Mythos. ERB, and later his estate, was extremely protective of his creations. Try to use Tarzan, or even an ape man who was suspiciously similar to Tarzan, without his/ their permission, and their lawyers would famously descend on you like a ton of bricks. HPL was the complete opposite. The Cthulhu Mythos soon turned into one of our genres first shared worlds. HPL encouraged writer friends like Robert Bloch and Clark Ashton Smith to borrow elements from his Cuthulhu Mythos, and to add elements as well, which HPL himself would borrow in turn. And in time, other writers who were NOT friends of HPL also began to write Cthulhu Mythos stories, which continues to this day.
Fair enough. Two writers, two different decisions.
Thing is, ERB died a millionaire many times over, living on a gigantic ranch in a town that was named Tarzana after his creation. HPL lived and died in genteel poverty, and some biographers have suggested that poor diet brought on by poverty may have hastened his death. HPL was a far more beloved figure amongst other writers, but love will only get you so far. Sometimes it's nice to be able to have a steak too. The Burroughs estate was paid handsomely for every Tarzan movie ever made, and collected plenty on the PRINCESS OF MARS movie I worked on during my Hollywood years, and no doubt is still collecting on the one currently in development... though the book is in the public domain by now. Did the Lovecraft estate make a penny off THE DUNWICH HORROR movie, the HERBERT WEST, REANIMATOR movie, the recent DAGON movie, the internet version of CALL OF CTHULHU? I don't know. I rather doubt it. If they did, I'll betcha it was just chump change. Meanwhile, new writers go right on mining the Cthulhu mythos, writing new stories and novels."
I noticed that he dismissed H.P. Lovecraft's generosity with his creations as foolish, because even though he was "beloved", HPL died in poverty, while he praised Edgar Rice Burrough's possessiveness because he was a millionaire when he died.
Hmmm...
Being a millionaire when one dies is better than being beloved?
Hmmm...
Assuming an afterlife, which is going to be more important to the dead person? Somehow I don't think money will have a lot of value there.
And assuming no afterlife, well, dead is dead, and a dead rich person is no better off than a dead poor one.
Except that people will remember the beloved one far longer and with more affection than they will the one who was merely rich.
Now, for all I know, among his family and friends ERB might have been beloved as well-- but GRRM does not think that is as important as his being RICH!
I think about JRRT, for whom making a living was always a concern. He worked his entire life on a body of work that did not really begin to make a difference for him financially until late in his life. He worried about making ends meet, and kept his "day job" as a professor all the way up until retirement, in spite of the strain it was on him and the time it took away from his work on on his beloved Arda. Yet his expressed wish was that he could create a "body of more or less connected legend", of which "the cycles should be linked to a majestic whole, and yet leave scope for other minds and hands..."
He did not build the world of Arda in order to make money-- he built it because he loved it and he crafted it meticulously. That he was able to sell his stories finally was almost incidental to his creation of his body of work.
Now, decades after his death, he's a millionaire many times over. But I think that he'd have more joy in the knowledge that people still love his work.
Hmmmm...
I find myself more and more sad about how things have changed, and nothing is judged good unless it makes $$$$$$$.